Ahhh no. I owned a business that had grandfathered in outdoor storage allowed on the highway, something that has not been allowed for 30+ years. So as places change hands and thus change of uses, several properties that enjoyed that same gandfathered status went on to be something different that did not require outdoor storage. I was in the equipment rental business, so keeping all that lumpy dirty junk under a roof is expensive because of the required square footage, even if you have a plain unheated steel Butler building you still pay taxes on the sq footage. Having outdoor storage allows you to have a much smaller builiding, and thus a much lower tax basis. So another guy on the highway who had the same grandfathered in outdoor storage lost his lease. Apparently the 20 years were up and the owner of the property had changed and the new people want to knock down his ratty old building and put up a nice new office building for their own use. So here is another property that will give away its grandfathered in outdoor storage. The business owner needed to move his business, a John Deere dealership, to a new location. He had been 150 yards away from my business for over 20 years, AND I was the LAST grandfathered in outdoor storage place on the highway left in either direction for 10+ miles. So, he came to me and offered to buy me out. I told him I was not for sale, he offered me a ridiculous number, I told him if that he could come up with that figure w/o me holding any of the finacing, he had a deal. It took him seven months, but he managed to pull it off. So I got lucky, I had something he needed badly and since I was not looking to sell, he had to make me an offer I could not refuse, and he did. I am fully aware that had his situation not turned out as it did, I would still be working everyday and have significantly less money. It is actually better than winning LOTTO in that I only had to pay 15% capital tax, I think lottery winnings are more like 50%. So I was at the right place at the right time, its that simple. I have never believed in debt, the only debt I have ever had was my first mortgage, since then I buy everything for cash and the secret has been to live on 50% of my take home pay. The 50% I do not spend I funnel into my Vanguard account and average about 13% a year. Since I have had some great years in business and some great years in the stock market, I have accumilated a nice nest egg by simply living well below my means. Without ANY further growth to my nest egg other than keeping up with inflation, I can live for 10~11 years without working at this point. At sometime in the future, my mother and father will die and of course I will inherit their money as an only child, they are in the their 70s. So say we give them 15 more years, I hope for more, but being realistic...and I can return 8% on my portfolio, not my 13%, I am free and clear for life. The fact that I am in the process of moving down market home wise also adds years to the back end, as I can walk away with a $400,000 profit on this house and pay for my new place with cash. The profit should earn me another $32,000+ a year income. So with everything paid for, and $150,000+ a year income without working and living expenses of about $50,000/year, why should I be a working slave? It makes no sense to me, that is not to say I will not look for work or start a new business, it just means I do not HAVE TO do it today, next week, next year, or maybe never and that is a great freedom I wish you could all enjoy.
My roommate at BU had a Lotus Esprit and it was a problem vehicle from what he said. His grandmother died, he took the inheritance and spent every penny on that car, so his inability to pay for maintence may have been a issue. No I want a 348, hopefully it wants me too and we get along, that would be ideal.
May I ask what is your problem? You have 63 posts and five are for insulting me, perhaps you need a new hobby.
Sounds like it to me. I think the last post on this thread is very thorough and way above a troll's head. Sounds like a good plan to me, come to the 348 brotherhood. I drove mine to work today, iguess that's why I'm on this board instead of finishing the drawings I started this morning. BT
I had the same problem as you have. I had $ 60.000 to spend for my F car. The Testarossa was always my dream car. I watched all the Miami Vice episodes 4 times, 15 years in a row ;-) For that money I could buy both cars, but the Testa would be 3/4 years older. The outside of the Testa is more exiting than the 348, but the interior of the early Testa's looks so much older and dated than a 348 so that equals a bit. I was also afraid of all the repairs, as I found out here on the board that the Testa was not a reliable car at all. Perhaps the later ones, but here I see only the 1985 till 1989. Ok, the 348 is not superb neither. But the difference in costs for maintenance etc made me decide for the 348. With the spacers added it looks also so much better than original. A must for the 348. Ok, the lack of hp.. The 348 is not a very fast car. In fact, it could have been so much faster with a 6 gear... That's the thing I miss the most in my 348. (Compared with my former 260hp Boxster S). Probably nothing sounds as good as a 4,9 litre V12... But I felt tears again this morning when I filled up the car with petrol and had to pay about $ 162,00. I had 5 Porsches as a hobby car before this first F car. Quality / reliability and parts prices are nuts compared to my Porsches. But do I want to swap ? No....
Well Joe, I had the same dilemma last year & the only problem was I already have a 348. I love the Testa, immense presence, torque, FV12 etc etc. but it's not as agile as a 348 & if you live & drive in urban, it's not so fun negotiating tight streets, jams, carparks, slopes ehhh. But out on highways, TR is wonderful. Before you buy, go try both & find the best/late example of each & pay more for one which is well taken care of. The late model Testas are from 91? while 348 can stretch till 94/5. I don't know how much are 512TR @ your place but I guess it could cost as much as a 348 spider or more.
If you find a good example of either, you'll have a pretty cool car to drive around in. Neither of them is going to be cheap to run and they are getting older so expect to have to replace things on both. Remember, the purchase price is just the down payment on Ferrari ownership. Make sure that you're willing to put up with the headaches and the occasional large bill. While they are cool cars, its not something for everyone.
If you're averaging 13%/year at Vanguard, I'd like to know how you're doing it because my Vanguard account isn't yielding that much
Well actually, I know how some people did it -- they got into the Energy Fund before it was closed and rode the wave. But if you yielded the 13-14% without the Energy Fund, then I'd love to know
No energy fund here. Here's more or less the mix. Vanguard Asset Allocation Fund Investor Shares Vanguard International Growth Fund Investor Shares Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Investor Shares Vanguard Retirement Savings Trust Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund Investor Shares Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Investor Shares Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund Investor Shares Vanguard Windsor Fund Investor Shares Vanguard Windsor II Fund Investor Shares
Vanguard = LOW fees and NO LOAD, Fidelity has to make 8% more a year for you to get the same return the intial year. Never understood loads, its like paying mortgage points, am I giving you $100,000 of $96,000? Am I borrowing $100,000 or really only $97,000? My father started with ZERO and never went for salt all his money went into Windsor II and I have to say he is the ultimate rags to riches story I know of. Jersey City kid, no father, worked at uncle's gas station, went to Korea for GI bill, worked his way up the food chain, started a business and is capable of ordering several FXXs, but he drives a cheap lease instead and still won't buy anything w/o a coupon.
That's because one key secret of wealth is controlling your burn rate. Lottery winners wind up poor a few years after winning their millions because people only tell them to buy, rather than to control their buying. Many a company has failed due to not controlling their cash burn rate. More people fall into that trap, though. The book "The Millionaire Next Door" touches upon this ironic phenomenon: the guy who spends all of his money to APPEAR rich will have the best shoes, best car, best meals, extravagant watch, etc...but the guy who is actually getting rich, like your dad, will be clipping coupons and driving a beater. One has control of their burn rate, the other doesn't. One is moving up, the other is treading water just to appear as though he is moving up.
I read that book a dozen times, "the beers I drink are Bud and free!", "these guys buy their automobiles by the pound", its hysterical but true. I'm trying to be the cheapsake 99.9% of the time and allowing myself the Spider as a toy, all work and no play makes for a grumpy old man, something the book forgot to mention but I know from know many of these old grouches that are rich. "whatta mean it needs an air filter, damn car came with a air filter didn't it?", yes sir but that was 100,000 miles ago, "well the damn paint is still there and fender, you're trying to screw me boy".
Ha! Oh yeah. There are definitely some people so cheap that they'd dehydrate rather than buy a bottled water. That's beyond being frugal, that's being a miser, or worse, just so dang stingy, grumpy, and cheap that you make life miserable. Life's too short for that nonsense. Enjoy life. Drink decent booze, smoke decent cigars, ride in a decent ride, fly right, go out, don't hang onto clothes "until they come back in style." On the other hand, what the Millionaire Next Door tries to point out is that some people aren't doing those things in the moderation required to enjoy life, but in such excess as to convey an image (i.e. that they are rich when they aren't). Old farmers called that sort of nonsense "eating your seed corn." Some people are spending everything that they have (plus their "credit"). That's the danger zone. That's a lack of control of your cash burn rate. That's the opposite of your dad. Your dad had/has the self-control required to get rich. He'll have wealth long after lottery winners have pissed their stash away. Control your cash burn. Build up your bank and trading accounts a little each month, with no exceptions, and you'll never have a financial problem. Splurging is likewise no problem, so long as you are still building up, even if only slightly, your accounts each month. In this way some janitors will pass on more to their heirs than some golden boys. What you spend matters less than how well you save, after all. Control your cash flow burn and you'll always be saving.
